25 February 2024

16 August 2023 – A WHO delegation conducted a two-day site visit to Al-Azhar University and affiliated hospitals in Egypt as part of the Regional COVID-19 Vaccine Effectiveness Study. The visit aimed to gather firsthand insights from the university's research team and provide feedback. The WHO delegation engaged with various stakeholders including university officials, hospital CEOs, and research teams, aiming to strengthen collaborative efforts for evidence-based policy-making. A delegation representing the WHO's Regional COVID-19 Vaccine Effectiveness Technical Team conducted a two-day site visit to Al-Azhar University on 16-17 August 2023. This study from...

20 July 2023

20 July 2023 - Timely, quality and credible evidence is crucial for health decision-making. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for data and evidence has been on the increase as stakeholders recognize their importance for policy and decision-making. For instance, evidence was needed to support the prevention, clinical diagnosis, treatment and overall management of COVID-19, including safe and efficacious vaccines. The pandemic offered a unique opportunity for WHO to advance support for evidence generation and use in health policy-making. WHO supports the institutionalization of evidence-informed policy-making and advocates...

02 February 2023

2 February 2023 – After a series of preparatory meetings, a technical workshop on Egypt’s national programme for guideline development and adaptation in Egypt was held on 30 January–2 February 2023 in Cairo, hosted by the WHO Country Office in Egypt, in close collaboration with the evidence and data to policy programme of the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean’s Department of Science, Information and Dissemination. The workshop was held under the patronage of, and was attended by, His Excellency, the Minister of Health and Population of Egypt Professor Dr Khaled Abdel...

25 November 2022

25 November  2022 — After a series of preparatory meetings over the past few months, a high-level workshop on the national guideline development and adaptation program was held in Cairo on 22-23 November 2022, hosted by the WHO Country Office of Egypt, in close collaboration with the Evidence and Data to Policy Unit of the WHO Regional Office's Department of Science, Information and Dissemination. Participants included senior officials from the Ministry of Health and Population and its affiliated bodies, especially the General Organization For Teaching Hospitals and Institutes (GOTHI) which has been...

25 November 2022

25 November 2022 — The WHO EMRO held its third capacity-building workshop for COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness studies with a focus on updated guidelines and recommendations in designing and implementing these studies for researchers and health experts. On 17 and 24 November 2022 the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office conducted the third series of the capacity-building workshop for “COVID-19 Vaccine Effectiveness Studies; Status Update and Important Considerations”. The two-day interactive workshop was held virtually and attended by more than 40 participants from 16 countries, including members from the Regional COVID-19 Vaccine Effectiveness...

27 October 2022

27 October 2022 – A seminar on “Case studies on evidence-informed policy-making: experiences and success stories during the COVID-19 pandemic” was organized by the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean on 26–27 October to present and discuss a series of case studies developed by countries of the Region on the use of evidence and data to inform policies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The seminar presented 5 technical sessions on different aspects of evidence-informed policy-making. Participants included policy-makers, Network for Evidence to Data Policy (NEDtP) member institutions, academics from NEDtP-supporting...

01 July 2022

1 July 2022 | Cairo - At the request of the Federal Ministry of Health of Somalia, WHO conducted a joint fact-finding mission from 26 June to 1 July 2022 to identify opportunities and strategies to develop national capacity for use of evidence for policy-making and strengthening the health information system for a stronger health system in the country.  The mission, led by Dr Arash Rashidian, Director of the Department of Science, Information and Dissemination, included detailed consultations with key policy-makers and relevant staff at the Federal Ministry of Health, key...

18 May 2022

18 May 2022, Cairo - The Regional Office has held the second virtual meeting of the Regional Network of Institutions for Evidence and Data to Policy (NEDtP) to share experiences and update the Network on recent initiatives to promote evidence-informed policy-making in the Region.  In March 2021, at the first meeting of the NEDtP, participants from regional and global institutions discussed plans, initiatives and potential collaboration for developing the Network and enhancing the use of evidence and data to policy at national and regional levels. Subsequently, several capacity-building programmes were undertaken...

19 April 2022

19 April 2022 | Cairo - A comprehensive training package to build capacity for evidence-informed policy-making and an accompanying guiding flowchart for policy-makers, policy developers and researchers have been launched by the Regional Office at an event to introduce and advocate for the use of these unique resources, which bring together a wealth of knowledge and were developed by different teams across the globe.  The launch event took place on 19 April 2022. More than 100 researchers and policy-makers from ministries of health and relevant academic and research institutions from the Region...

30 March 2022

30 March 2022 – Health policies need to be based on sound evidence to ensure that they are appropriate, effective and cost-effective, and identifying key policy priorities for the Region and connecting with stakeholders for evidence-informed policy-making is an important WHO agenda. In this context, the first formal meeting of the Regional Network of Institutions for Evidence and Data to Policy (NEDtP) was held on 30 March 2021 to agree on ways to enhance national and institutional capacity, share experiences and highlight urgent needs in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The...

30 March 2022

30 March 2022 – To enhance the development and use of policy briefs in policy-making processes in the Region, the Regional Office held a virtual interactive workshop on March 29 and 30 for researchers and policy developers. Over 60 participants from countries in the Region attended the workshop, including members of the Network of Institutions for Evidence and Data to Policy (NEDtP) and relevant staff from ministries of health and WHO.  The workshop provided advanced training of trainers and followed a previous workshop on the general principles of policy brief development that took...

10 November 2020

10 November 2020 – The virtual meeting with supporting institutions took place on 10 November 2020. The network will play an important role in strengthening regional and national capacity to improve the availability, quality and use of evidence for decision-making and will provide a platform for sharing experiences among countries and supporting WHO programmes, in line with GPW13 and the SDGs. To ensure that health policies are appropriate, effective and cost-effective, they need to be based on sound evidence. Over the years, WHO has taken important steps to strengthen evidence-informed health policy-making...